WHO Planning Global Strategy to Curb Youth Binge Drinking

Worldwide, 2.3 million youths die each year from alcohol consumption, and the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to develop a plan to address the problem.

In England, the number of people entering hospitals with alcohol-related illnesses has doubled over the last 10 years. Alcohol consumption in France has generally dropped, but a new trend of binge drinking has emerged there. Binge drinking, a practice of quickly ingesting a large quantity of alcohol to become intoxicated, can have serious side effects like alcohol poisoning and even death.

The World Health Organization is receiving support for its plan to rein in youth binge drinking. Health activists are welcoming the idea, and the Global Alcohol Producers Group said it will work with the WHO to reduce “irresponsible and inappropriate consumption” of alcohol, calling the WHO’s alcohol resolution “balanced and constructive.”

Many college students consume enough alcohol on their 21st birthdays to seriously endanger their health, said a study by the University of Missouri. Of the 2,518 current and former college students surveyed, 34 percent of men and 24 percent of women consumed 21 or more drinks to celebrate the birthday. Binge drinking’s risks “are not limited to those with a history of problematic drinking,” one researcher explained, “and there needs to be a strategy to address a custom that can lead to alcohol poisoning and, possibly, death.”

According to WebMD, severe alcoholism may place a person at risk of bone fractures and osteoporosis, but moderate consumption of alcohol can actually help prevent factures and low bone density. For men, two drinks a day amounts to moderate alcohol consumption; for women, the volume is one drink a day or less.

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